talent management: from an individual perspective

Talent Management:

from an individual perspective

The effect of the amount of Talent Management practices on affective

organizational commitment, with a mediating role of psychological fulfilment

Eline Gussenhoven

Lieve Vrouweplein 11c

5038 TS Tilburg

ANR: 223399

Master’s Thesis

Study program: Human Resource Studies

Supervisor: Dr. Marielle Sonnenberg

Second assessor: Dr. Marinus Verhagen

Project period: February – November 2009

2 Talent Management: from an individual perspective

Table of contents

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 3

1.1 Research question .................................................................................................................................. 4

1.2 Relevance .............................................................................................................................................. 4

2. Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................................. 5

2.1 What is talent? ....................................................................................................................................... 5

2.2 What is Talent Management? ................................................................................................................ 6

2.3 Psychological contract .......................................................................................................................... 7

2.3.1 How are Talent Management practices related to psychological contracts? ................................... 7

2.4 Organizational commitment .................................................................................................................. 8

2.4.1 How are Talent Management practices related to organizational commitment? .............................. 9

2.5 Conceptual model ................................................................................................................................ 10

3. Methodology ............................................................................................................................................ 11

3.1 Research design ................................................................................................................................... 11

3.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................................................ 11

3.3 Sample statistics .................................................................................................................................. 11

3.4 Instruments .......................................................................................................................................... 11

3.4.1 Independent variable ....................................................................................................................... 11

3.4.2 Dependent variable ......................................................................................................................... 12

3.4.3 Mediating variable .......................................................................................................................... 12

3.4.4 Control variables ............................................................................................................................. 12

3.5 Data analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 13

4. Results ...................................................................................................................................................... 13

4.1 Correlations ......................................................................................................................................... 13

4.3 Regression analyses ............................................................................................................................ 14

4.3.1 Regression analyses for different components of the psychological contract ................................. 16

5. Conclusion and Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 17

5.1 Summary of main findings .................................................................................................................. 17

5.2 Discussion of findings ......................................................................................................................... 17

6. Limitations ............................................................................................................................................... 19

7. Practical implications .............................................................................................................................. 20

8. Recommendations for future research .................................................................................................. 21

References .................................................................................................................................................... 22

Appendices ................................................................................................................................................... 26


Abstract

Organizations are struggling with serious talent shortage and therefore have to

ensure they retain talented people that are necessary for realizing business

opportunities. In order to retain talent, first it is of importance to look at the

individual level; the talented employees. This research investigates the effect of the

amount of Talent Management practices on affective organizational commitment of

talented employees, with a mediating role of psychological contract fulfilment. By

conducting explore interviews with Talent Management executives of seven large

organizations, the organization’s perspective towards Talent Management and

talented employees got clear. Besides, 340 respondents who were defined as

talented employees filled out a questionnaire. Results show that the effect of the

amount of Talent Management practices on affective organizational commitment is

only observable via psychological contract fulfilment. Thus investing in Talent

Management is only effective in terms of commitment when organizations meet the

employees’ expectations.

Keywords: Talent Management, organizational commitment, psychological

contract, signaling theory

1. Introduction

Nowadays organizations realize that people, intellectual capital, and talent are ever more critical to

organizational success (Boudreau & Ramstad, 2005). However, talent shortages are becoming increasingly

apparent within organizations and are more complex and turbulent than ever before (Joerres & Turcq,

2007; Cheese, Thomas & Craig, 2008; Hiltrop, 1999). Organizations that are struggling with serious talent

shortage have to get smarter about getting the most value out of the talent they have and ensure they retain

talented people with the right skills and experience that are necessary for realizing business opportunities

(Hiltrop, 1999; Joerres & Turq, 2007). Talent Management is a popular and growing field in the literature

and is on the top of the corporate agenda (Lewis & Heckman, 2006; Cheese et al., 2008). However, the

debate largely focuses on ‘getting more talent’ (Boudreau & Ramstad, 2005; 2007). Yet, having the best

talent is worth little if they are not motivated or aligned with the organizational goals (Cheese et al., 2008).

The importance of employee preferences in the war for talent is often overlooked (Erickson & Gratton,

2007). People who are excited by what they are doing and the environment they are operating in, are more

likely to be deeply engaged in their work (Erickson & Gratton, 2007). Thus, in order to retain talent, first it

is of importance to look at the individual level; the talented employees.


A strategy to retain talented employees is to look at their commitment with the organization. Organizational

commitment describes the strength of an individual’s identification with and attachment to an organization

(Meyer & Allen, 1984). This construct is of importance for organizations, because it leads to an attitudinal

consequence, willing to remain with the organization (Meyer & Allen, 1991). Furthermore, strengthening

organizational commitment is a key challenge for organizations today, due to higher levels of job insecurity

within organizations (Ng & Feldman, 2008). Another way to take the individual level into account is

recognizing that the psychological contract of employees is changing (Hiltrop, 1999). The psychological

contract is seen as an important framework for understanding the employment relationship (Bal, de Lange,

Jansen & van der Velde, 2007). Psychological contracts are unwritten, held individually and perceptual in

nature (Sonnenberg, 2006). Rousseau (1990) defined it as: ‘an individual’s belief, shaped by the

organization, regarding reciprocal obligations’. The psychological contract will be fulfilled when the

employer or organization is perceived of keeping its contract terms (Rousseau & Tijoriwala, 1998). In

contrast, breach or violation of the psychological contract occurs when an organization does not fulfill its

obligations. Psychological contract is seen as a relevant construct to explain certain employee attitudes,

such as organizational commitment (Conway & Briner, 2002; Lester, Turnley, Bloodgood & Bolino, 2002;

Turnley & Feldman, 1999a; 1999b; 2000).

1.1 Research question

As a representation of the employment relationship, the psychological contract is likely to reflect promises,

expectations and experiences regarding Talent Management. Moreover, Guest (1999) stated that the more

practices employees experience, the better their psychological contract and in turn their reactions such as

organizational commitment will be. Reasoning in line with this, the psychological contract potentially

provides a useful framework through which to explore the relationship between the amount of Talent

Management practices and employee attitudes such as commitment.

In view of the scarcity of talent and therefore the importance to retain current talent this research will focus

on identifying the relation between the amount of Talent Management practices and organizational

commitment with a mediating role of psychological contract fulfilment. This leads to the following

research question:

What is the effect of the amount of Talent Management practices on organizational commitment of talented

employees and to what extent does psychological contract fulfilment of talented employees have a

mediating effect?

1.2 Relevance

From a theoretical perspective, this research contributes to the existing literature of Talent Management. In

essence although practitioners frequently mention and wrote about Talent Management, in research there

are not many empirical studies on the subject, apart from work done in the Management Development area.


This kind of research however focuses on specific MD activities and therefore frequently has a narrow

view on Talent Management. Besides, within current research the value of employee preferences are often

overlooked (Erickson & Gratton, 2007). This research will try to fill this gap by focusing on the individual

level and identifying the effect of the amount of Talent Management practices on organizational

commitment with the mediating help of the psychological contract of talented employees.

The practical relevance is the fact that organizations can get better insight in how to deal with talented

people and investigate the effect of investment in Talent Management in terms of employee behaviour.

With the help of the mediating role of psychological contract, organizations will get a better view on how

they can fulfill talents’ expectations, which in turn helps them understand when people are committed and

when they are not. Organizations can improve their position within the war for talent, in which retaining is

one of the most critical success factor in the next five years (Blass, 2007).

2. Theoretical framework

There is considerable evidence that Talent Management is of importance for the war for talent and that it

can be used as a competitive resource (e.g. Boudreau & Ramstad, 2007; SHRM HR Glossary, in

Lockwood, 2006; Capelli, 2008). However, there is disagreement about what talent and Talent

Management actually are. Furthermore, in which respect does Talent Management differ from HR? This

will be clarified. Besides, the proposed impact of the amount of Talent Management practices on both

psychological contract and organizational commitment will be discussed respectively.

2.1 What is Talent?

Before going into the topic of Talent Management, there must be an exploration of what is meant by talent

(CIPD, 2007). With the help of talent, the organization can move where it wants to be (SHRM HR

Glossary, in Lockwood, 2006). According to CIPD (2007) ‘talent consist of those individuals who can

make a difference to organizational performance, either through their immediate contribution or in the

longer term by demonstrating the highest levels of potentials’ (p.3). Looking at Blass (2007) it can be stated

that he agrees with the latter. Blass (2007) mentioned that individuals who are identified as high

performance with high potential are most often the focus of Talent Management practices. These are people

who are demonstrating some potential to progress in the organization at any given point in time (Blass,

2007). Cheese et al. (2008) define talent as: the total of all experiences, knowledge, skills, and behaviours

that a person has and brings to work (p.46). They point out that talent has become a precious resource

fought over by competitors in a global war for talent. Hence, talent can been seen as ‘an all-encompassing

term to describe the human resources that organizations want to acquire, retain and develop in order to

meet their business goals’ (Cheese et al., 2008, p.46). It is for every organization to decide for themselves

how and who to label as high potential (Blass, 2007). So it comes down to that it depends per organization

what talent precisely is.


2.2 What is Talent Management?

The exact meaning of Talent Management is difficult to identify, because of the confusion regarding

definitions and terms and the many assumptions within the literature (Lewis & Heckman, 2006). Although

the confusion, there are several authors who found a definition regarding Talent Management (e.g.

Boudreau & Ramstad, 2007; SHRM HR Glossary, in Lockwood, 2006; van der Sluis, 2008; Lewis &

Heckman, 2006). SHRM HR Glossary for instance (in Lockwood, 2006) defines Talent Management as:

‘the implementation of integrated strategies or systems designed to increase workplace productivity by

developing improved processes for attracting developing, retaining and utilizing people with the required

skills and aptitude to meet current en future business needs’ (p.81).

Integration and alignment are of importance, that is knowing how all the pieces of Talent Management fit

together within a Talent Management system (Ashton & Morton, 2005). Cheese et al. (2008) also

mentioned the importance of integration. According to Cheese et al. (2008) firms cannot effectively

compete or create lasting competitive advantage by simply securing the best talent. ‘The secret to sustained

competitive success in the new economic world is to build a talent- powered organization that sustains and

builds all the skills needed to compete’ (p.9). This talent-powered organization is defined as:

‘an organization that invests in building distinctive capabilities in managing talent to produce extraordinary results

for the organization. Talent-powered organizations are adept at defining talent needs, discovering diverse sources

of talent, developing the organization’s individual and collective talents, and deploying talent in ways that engage

and align people around a compelling set of objectives. When these talent management capabilities are highly

integrated, aligned with the organization’s business strategy and embedded in its operations, they constitute a

distinctive organizational capability and a source of lasting competitive advantage (p.10).

Lewis and Heckman (2006) however stated that ‘talent management, as defined currently, is not well

grounded in research, not distinct from traditional HR practices or disciplines, and is supported mainly by

anecdote’ (Lewis & Heckman, 2006, p. 143). Talent Management is often seen as a part of HRM that is

focussed on talent in order to improve the effectiveness of the organization. However, though there are

many different definitions and areas of focus by analysts, most of them agreed that Talent Management is

not just about HR (Cheese et al., 2008). Looking at the above mentioned definition of Cheese et al. (2008),

attracting, developing and retaining talent is the concern of Talent Management, whereas the concern of

HRM is about a much broader view. HRM takes into account the tension between strategic and human

values on an organizational level (Boselie, 2002). In contrast, Talent Management is on a more individual

level (talented people), it differs per employee. The development of a differentiated human resource

architecture must help the implementation of Talent Management activities, which differentially contribute

to the organization’s sustainable competitive advantage (Collings & Mellahi, 2009). According to Blass

(2007) Talent Management is additional. He defined Talent Management as ‘the additional management

processes and opportunities that are made available to people in the organisation who are considered to be

‘talent’ (p.33). In line with this, Blass and April (2008) stated that Talent Management is about the

supplemental elements that are provided to high potentials, not about the ‘normal’ processes that are

available to all the employees within the organization.


Concluding, organizations differ in how they approach Talent Management and which practices are

considered to be part of Talent Management. Important area of agreement though is that Talent

Management is different from HRM in that it is focused specifically on a certain group of employees with

potentially extra activities than regular HRM activities.

2.3 Psychological contract

Nowadays, the psychological contract is a well known concept within the literature. Rousseau (1989)

defined the psychological contract as ‘an individual beliefs regarding the terms and conditions of a

reciprocal exchange between that focal person and another party. Key issues here include the belief that a

promise had been made and a consideration offered in exchange for it, binding the parties to some set of

reciprocal obligations’ (p.123). Thus an employee’s psychological contract consists of the belief one has

about the obligations one holds towards the organization and the obligations the organization has towards

one (Rousseau, 1990). The contract consists of perceived employee obligations, perceived employer

obligations, and perceived fulfilment or violation of these obligations (Freese, 2007). Although the

psychological contract is made up of reciprocal obligations (Rousseau, 1989), the employer obligations are

the focus of this research. The psychological contract will be fulfilled when the employer or organization is

perceived of keeping its contract terms (Rousseau & Tijoriwala, 1998). However, a psychological contract

can also be broken, or become violated. According to Morrison and Robinson (1997) this break of contract

terms includes two aspects. The first is a breach of the psychological contract, which occurs when an

employee perceives the organization did not fulfill the perceived obligations of the contract. The second

aspect is violation. This is about the emotional and affective break of the psychological contract. For

instance, when a talented person does not feel valued and treated as a talent. Thus, breach refers to the

cognition that the organization has failed to fulfilled obligations, whereas feelings of violations refer to the

affects following breach (Bal et al. 2007).

Most research on psychological contract has focused on the outcomes of breach or violation, considerably

less on psychological contract fulfilment (Guerro & Herrbach, 2008). Psychological contract fulfilment is

the degree to which a contract party is perceived as keeping its contract terms and could support the

organization in retaining employees, since it has positive outcomes on employees’ attitudes such as

commitment (Rousseau & Tijoriwala, 1998; Conway & Briner, 2002; Lester, Turnley, Bloodgood &

Bolino, 2002; Turnley & Feldman, 1999a; 1999b; 2000). For these reasons, this study will bring further

insight into psychological contract fulfilment.

2.3.1 How are Talent Management practices related to psychological contracts?

Psychological contracts can be influenced by and build upon HR practices (Suazo, Marinez & Sandoval,

2008). This can be explained by the signaling theory. According to the signaling theory (Spence, 2002),

‘the idea behind job market signaling model is that there are attributes of potential employees that the

employer cannot observe and that affect the individual’s subsequent productivity and, hence, value to the


employer on the job’ (p.436). In other words, employers rely on educational qualifications as signals of

applicants’ abilities (Spence, 1973). This view of the issue of signaling is from the employing

organization’s perspective. Including an employee perspective, organizational signals provide information

about what life might be like in an organization (Turban, 2001). Signaling theory from an economic view is

based on the statement of rational evaluation of both costs and benefits of signaling actions by parties in a

potential contract relationship (Sonnenberg, 2006). Therefore the cost associated with perceived Talent

Management practices can be seen as signals toward talented employees which provide information that the

organization wants to invest in them. A signal is considered to be a characteristic of the organization that

influences the attitudes and behavior of the other party (degree of psychological contract fulfilment). Talent

Management practices provide clear information and signals towards the talented employees within an

organization. This is consistent with Rousseau‘s (in Sturges, Conway and Guest, 2005) suggestion that

certain HR practices send signals about what an employee can expect from work that goes beyond their

specific content. Also Sonnenberg (2006) showed that HR practices signals value to employees in terms of

their psychological contract. The author stated that ‘an increase of the amount of organizational

information may provide richer information for the employee to build his own understanding of his

employment relationship with the organization’ (p.44). Every practice that is added provides additional

information regarding the obligations of the employee and the organization (Sonnenberg, 2006). This

research expect that the use of Talent Management practices leads to a better fulfilment of the

psychological contract since the more specific signals the talented employees get from the organization, the

clearer it is for talents what they can expect and whether or not the organization has lived up to its

promises. This leads to the first hypothesis:

H1: The more Talent Management practices the more psychological contract fulfilment of talented

employees.

2.4 Organizational commitment

Traditionally organizational commitment it is defined by Mowday, Steers and Porter (1979, p.226) as: (1)

‘a strong belief in an acceptance of the organization’s goals and values’, (2) ‘a willingness to exert

considerable effort on behalf of the organization’, and (3) ‘a definite desire to maintain organizational

membership’. According to Meyer and Allen (1997) organizational commitment has been conceptualized

as having three main dimensions: affective, continuance, and normative. ‘Affective commitment refers to

the employee’s ‘emotional attachment to, identification with and involvement in the organization’ (p. 11).

Employees stay within the organization because they want to. The employee enjoys the membership of the

organization and the preferred state for the organization. Continuance commitment relates to ‘an awareness

of the costs associated with leaving the organization’ (p. 11). Employees remain because the costs of

leaving are too great. They remain because they need to do so. Speaking of normative commitment, an

employee feels that they ought to stay in the organization. Commitment approaches seek to increase

effectiveness and productivity and rely on conditions that encourage employees to identify with the goals of


the organization and work hard to carry out those goals (Arthur, 1994; Wood & Menezes, 1998). Therefore,

organizational commitment is an important aspect for organizations to manage. The focus of this research

is on affective commitment, because of several reasons. According to earlier research, psychological

contract fulfilment has only a significant effect on this type of commitment (Sturges et al., 2005) or has a

stronger significant correlation with psychological contract comparing with continuance commitment

(Freese, 2007). Besides, in a meta-analysis (Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch & Topolnytsky, 2002), a

correlation of .74 has been found between affective and normative commitment. Thus perhaps these scales

are not sufficiently distinguishable from each other.

As mentioned earlier the effect of psychological contract fulfilment on organizational commitment has

already been shown to exist (Conway & Briner, 2002; Lester, Turnley, Bloodgood & Bolino, 2002; Turnley

& Feldman, 1999a; 1999b; 2000). This is likely to be expected to be the same according to talented

employees, which leads to the following hypothesis:

H2: The more psychological contract fulfilment the more affective organizational commitment of talented

employees.

2.4.1 How are Talent Management practices related to organizational commitment?

Social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) formerly explained the motivation behind the attitudes and behaviours

exchanged between individuals. In addition, Eisenberger, Huntington. Hutchison, and Sowa (1986) stated

that the social exchange theory also explains aspects of the relationship between the organization and the

employees. Employees form perceptions about the intentions and attitudes of the organization toward them

(Levinson, 1995). It is likely to suppose that employees who perceive more Talent Management practices

are more optimistic and in turn more committed to their employer than employees who perceive less Talent

Management practices. Research on social exchange theory has shown that employees’ organizational

commitment draws from their perceptions of the employers’ commitment to and support of them

(Whitener, 1999). Besides, it has been found that perceived organizational support has been positively

related to job performance and affective commitment (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002). Moreover, Guest

(1999) found a positive link between the adaption of a greater number of HR practices and outcomes at the

individual level such as organizational commitment. According to Uren and Samuel (2007), Talent

Management can ensure the right environment for individuals to remain committed to the organization.

Thus there are several reasons to expect that the amount of Talent Management practices have a positive

effect on affective organizational commitment.

H3: The more Talent Management practices the more affective organizational commitment of talented

employees.


Schalk and Huiskamp (in Freese, 2007) showed that psychological contract is a mediating variable between

objective characteristics (e.g. age, gender, tenure) and organizational commitment. The psychological

contract had additional explanatory power above objective characteristics in affective organizational

commitment. As mentioned earlier, the psychological contract can reflect promises, expectations and

experiences regarding the employment relationship and it is expected that Talent Management practices

influence these. In line with this and in view of the research of Schalk and Huiskamp (in Freese, 2007), the

psychological contract potentially provides a useful framework through which to explore the relationship

between the amount of Talent Management practices and employee attitude, in this research affective

organizational commitment. This means that the strength of the relation between the amount of Talent

Management practices and affective organizational commitment potentially is dependent on the extent in

which the organization fulfils her obligations towards the talented people. Therefore, it is reasonable to

think that the relationship between the amount of Talent Management practices and affective organizational

commitment will operate via psychological contract fulfilment.

H4: Psychological contract fulfilment will mediate the relationship between the amount of Talent

Management practices and affective organizational commitment of talented employees.

2.5 Conceptual Model

In brief, this research examines the effect of the amount of Talent Management practices on affective

organizational commitment. Since an increase of the amount of organizational information is likely to

provide clearer information for the employee to build his own understanding of his employment

relationship with the organization (Sonnenberg, 2006), it is proposed that the effect between the amount of

Talent Management practices and affective organizational commitment will operate via psychological

contract fulfilment (figure 1).

+

+ +

TaT

Figure 1: Conceptual Model

Amount of Talent

Management

practices

Psychological

contract

fulfilment

Affective

organizational

commitment


3. Methodology

3.1 Research design

The aim of this research is to clarify the relation between the amount of Talent Management practices and

affective organizational commitment with a mediating role of psychological contract fulfilment. The

research design for testing the conceptual model of this research is quantitative and explanatory. The data

used is collected at a single point of time; hence this research has a cross-sectional design (Baker, 1999).

3.2 Procedure

To get acquainted with Talent Management, exploring interviews are held with Talent Management

executives of seven large organizations. During these interviews the organization’s perspective towards

Talent Management and talented employees got clear. According to CIPD’s (2006) list of most used Talent

Management practices (Appendix III), the Talent Management executive was asked to make an overview

of the Talent Management practices that they specifically employ. After this, these Talent Management

practices are converted into the questionnaire. Furthermore, the executive was asked to make a sample of

mail addresses of talented employees to which the questionnaire has been send. The email that is sent to the

respondents consisted of an explanation and an URL to go to the questionnaire. In order to enlarge the

response rate, two reminders are sent to the respondents. The results of the questionnaire got together in an

online web application, from where it is applied into SPSS.

3.3 Sample statistics

The sample of this research consists of talented employees from seven different organizations. In total 340

employees filled out the questionnaire (43% response rate). Of the respondents 77,6% is male and 22,4% is

female. The average age is 37, ranging from 22 to 65 year. The average years of work experience is 15 and

the average tenure is 13. Most of the respondents have completed the highest educational level (68,8%),

whereas only 1,2% has inadequately completed elementary education. Of the respondents, 95,9% has a

fulltime contract status and 4,1% has a part time contract status. At last, 62,1% fulfils a management

position, whereas 37,9% does not.

3.4 Instruments

The concepts that have to be made measurable are Talent Management practices, psychological contract

fulfilment and affective organizational commitment.

3.4.1 Independent variable

The amount of Talent Management practices is the independent variable of this research. According to

Colling & Mellahi (2009) Talent Management practices are activities that involve the systematic

identification of key positions which differentially contribute to the organisation's sustainable competitive

advantage. Although there are authors who have tried to summarize the most often used or most effective


Talent Management practices (Blass, 2007; CIPD, 2006; Erickson & Gratton, 2007; Hiltrop, 1999), there is

no valid way for measuring the presence of Talent Management practices. This research reasoned out this

difficulty by using a list of most used Talent Management practices (CIPD, 2006), which contains of 16

items (Appendix III). As mentioned earlier, during interviews with Talent Management executives

questions about the organization’s Talent Management practices are asked on the basis of this list. Based on

these interviews, per organization a list is made with Talent Management practices. Since each Talent

Management executive made the practices specific to the organization, the names slightly differs per

organization. The list consists of a 3-point scale for whether the practices are or have been available to the

employee ‘yes, no or do not know’. The scores on ‘yes’ got a value of 1, whereas both the scores on ‘no’

and ‘do not know’ are seen as not available and thus are valued as 0. The higher the score, the more Talent

Management practices are perceived by the talented employees.

3.4.2 Dependent variable

To measure affective organizational commitment, this research uses the scale of revised Tilburg

Psychological Contract Questionnaire (TPCQ, Freese, forthcoming) based on Freese (2007), which consists

of 7 items (Appendix IV). The items of this questionnaire are based on two models; the model of Meyer

and Allen (1984; 1991) and the model of Mowday et al. (1979). An example of a question is: ‘I really care

about the fate of this organization’. Responses are on a 7-point Likertscale that ranged from 1= strongly

disagree to 7= strongly agree. Factor analysis showed that all items belong to the same scale, with a

Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.81.

3.4.3 Mediating variables

The mediating variable of this research is measured by using the scale of revised Tilburg Psychological

Contract Questionnaire (TPCQ, Freese, forthcoming) based on Freese (2007). As mentioned earlier, the

psychological contract consists of perceived employee obligations, perceived employer obligations, and

perceived fulfilment or violation of these obligations (Sonnenberg, 2006). In this research measuring the

fulfilment of the psychological contract is only based on the perceived employer obligations (Appendix V).

These obligations are measured in six components, namely job content (α=0.77), career development

(α=0.80), social atmosphere (α=0.78), organizational policies (α=0.81), work-life balance (α=0.62) and

rewards (α=0.73). After each component the following question about fulfilment is asked: ‘To what extent

did your employer fulfil previous obligations?’ Based on factor analysis, one item had to be deleted in the

component job content (‘balans in werkdruk’). The total fulfilment scale consists of six items and has a

Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.80.

3.4.4 Control variables

Control variables are used in this research to control if these variables have any effect on the results. The

results will be controlled by age, work experience and tenure. Since there is hardly empirical research done

in the area of Talent Management, these variables are chosen based on both analysing the sample statistics


and on previous research regarding the psychological contract (e.g. Sonnenberg, 2006; Freese, 2007;

Turney & Feldman, 1999a; 1999b).

3.5 Data analysis

First of all variables are checked for scores that are missing or out of range. In total, 4 respondents are

deleted from the dataset, because they filled out less than 80% percent. Outliers were checked using the 5%

Trimmed Mean. At both the commitment variable and the psychological contract fulfilment variable some

outliers were visible. By comparing the original mean and the Trimmed Mean you can see whether the

extreme scores have a strong influence on the mean. Affective organizational commitment has a mean of

4.24 and a Trimmed Mean of 4.26. Psychological contract fulfilment has a mean of 3.72 and a Trimmed

Mean of 3.73. Both differences are small to such an extent that they do not influence the original mean.

Because the respondents are from seven different organizations, it is possible that belonging to a certain

organization has an impact on psychological contract and affective organizational commitment. To explore

this impact a one-way between-groups analysis is conducted. First the organizations were divided into three

groups. By dividing the organizations into these groups culture and type of the organizations were taken

into account. Three organizations are public institutions, two American organizations and at last one

insurance company and one bank. The three groups were named respectively Public (N=3), American

(N=2) and Bank/insurance (N=2). Looking at the impact of belonging to a group on psychological contract

fulfilment, it is visible that all groups differ significantly from each other. The effect size of this result,

calculating the eta squared, is 0.09, which is a medium effect. When looking at the impact of belonging to a

group on affective organizational commitment, it is visible that only American and Public differ from each

other. The effect size is 0.06, which is a medium effect. Since the significant differences have a substantial

effect, the type of the organization will also be used as a control variable.

4. Results

4.1 Correlations

Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations and correlations of the variables used in this study. It is

noticeable that the standard deviations of psychological contract fulfilment and affective organizational

commitment are both considerably small. This means that data points tend to be close to the mean.

According to Pallant (2005) the Pearson correlation (r) is used to indicate both the strength and the

direction of each relationship without making any assumptions about causality. Looking at the main

variables all relationships seems to have a significant positive Pearson correlation. The highest strength is

found between psychological contract fulfilment and affective organizational commitment (r=.559, p=.01).

It is not necessary to check these variables for multi-collinearity, since the correlation is not above .80.

Besides examining the correlations between the main variables, it is of importance to look at correlations

between the control variables and the main variables. Only the control variables that are significantly


correlated with both the independent variable and the mediating variable are appropriate for multiple

regression analysis. The control variables are not significantly correlated with either Talent Management

practices or psychological contract fulfilment, therefore they are not necessary for further analysis.

Table 1: Correlation Matrix

Mean S.D. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

1. TM practices 9.16 3.55 (-)

2. PC fulfilment 3.72 .48 .395** (.803)

3. Commitment 4.24 .47 .231** .559**

(.805)

4. Age 37.31 8.10 -.079 .515 .142 (-)

5. Work experience 14.86 9.93 -.072 -.048 .154** .926** (-)

6. Tenure 12.78 10.68 .068 .416 .207** .837** ,862** (-) Note: in parenthesis Cronbach’s Alpha

** p< .01 * p< .05

4.2 Regression analyses

The hypotheses of this research are tested using hierarchical multiple regression techniques. Table 2

summarizes the results of the direct effect of Talent Management practices on psychological contract

fulfilment. When including the control variables, psychological contract fulfilment is significantly more

explained by the model (∆R²=.041). Therefore model 2 is recommended. This model shows a significant

positive effect of the amount of Talent Management practices on psychological contract fulfilment

(B=.046, p<.001), which supports hypothesis 1.

Table 2: Regression analysis PC fulfilment

Model 1 Model 2

B s.e. Beta B s.e. Beta

TM practices .054 .007 .395** .046 .007 .335**

Organizational type

- Bank/ insurance .316 .077 .218**

- Public .077 .053 .075

R² .156 .197

∆ R² .041

F 61.961** 27.186**

F change 8.426**

** p<.001

* p<.01


Table 3 represents the results of the hypotheses regarding affective organizational commitment. Affective

organizational commitment is most explained when model 3 is applied (R²=.353), therefore this model is

recommended. This research expected a positive effect of psychological contract fulfilment on affective

organizational commitment. When examining this effect, it is important to control for Talent Management

practices. There is a significant effect of psychological contract fulfilment on affective organizational

commitment (B=.555, p<.001), which shows support for hypothesis 2.

Table 3: Regression analysis commitment

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

B s.e. Beta B s.e. Beta B s.e. Beta

TM practices .030 .007 .225** .001 .007 .005 -.001 -.007 -.004

PC fulfilment .541 .048 .557** .555 .048 .571**

Organizational type

- Bank/ insurance -.103 .069 -.073

- Public .168 .047 .170**

R² .050 .312 .353

∆ R² .262 .041

F 17.805** 75.756** 45.242**

F change 127.010** 10.444**

** p<.001

* p<.01

Hypothesis 3 expected a positive effect of Talent Management practices on affective organizational

commitment of talented employees. Looking at the results this effect is only significant in model 1

(B=.030, p<.001). However it is necessary to look at the results in model 2 or 3, since these models control

for psychological contract fulfilment. In model 3 the variance of affective organizational commitment is

most explained, therefore this model is recommended. The results indicate that the amount of Talent

Management practices does not have a significant effect on affective organizational commitment. For this

reason, hypothesis 3 is rejected.

The last hypothesis of this research expected that psychological contract mediates the relationship between

the amount of Talent Management practices and affective organizational commitment. According to Baron

and Kenny (1986) full mediation occurs if the independent variable has no significant effect when the

mediator is controlled. As mentioned above, the amount of Talent Management practices does not have a

significant effect on affective organizational commitment when controlling psychological contract

fulfilment. Besides, affective organizational commitment is most explained by the model when the

mediating variable is included (R²=.353). By multiplying the standardized effect of Talent Management

practices on psychological contract fulfilment (β=.335) by the effect of psychological contract fulfilment on


affective organizational commitment (β=.571), the actual indirect effect can be calculated. Thus the indirect

effect of the amount of Talent Management practices on affective organizational commitment via

psychological contract fulfilment is β= 0.191.

Next to the regression analysis, which suggests an indirect effect (β= 0.191), it is also necessary to conduct

the Sobel test. This test is important to find out whether the indirect effect is significant. The Sobel test

involves the unstandardized scores and standard errors of the both the direct effect between the independent

and the mediating variable and the multivariate effect between the mediating and the dependent variable

(figure 2). After importing these numbers the Sobel test calculates a z-value, which is significant when

higher than 1.96. The Sobel test regarding this research gives a z-value of 5.713. This indicates that the

indirect effect of the amount of Talent Management practices on affective organizational commitment via

psychological contract fulfilment is significant. For this reason it can be concluded that hypothesis 4 is

accepted.

Figure 2: Sobel test

4.2.1 Regression analysis for different components of the psychological contract

The results of the regression analysis and the Sobel test indicate an indirect effect of the amount of Talent

Management practices on affective organizational commitment via psychological contract fulfilment. Now

this is determined, it is interesting to calculate this mediating effect with each component of psychological

contract fulfilment separately. To recall, the components consist of employer obligations. By examining the

mediating role of the fulfilment of these components separately (Appendix VI; VII) it becomes apparent

which kind of employer obligations significantly mediates the effect of Talent Management practices on

affective organizational commitment.

Table 4 summarizes the indirect effects of each employer obligation separately. Except for work-life

balance, all components show to have a significant indirect effect. The results indicate considerably large

differences between the strengths of the indirect effects. The fulfilment of career development has the

strongest indirect effect (β=.153), whereas the lowest indirect effect belongs to the fulfilment of rewards

(β=.039).


Table 4: Indirect effect of TM practices on commitment via different components of PC fulfilment

Employer obligations Indirect effect (β)

PC fulfilment job content .104

PC fulfilment career development .153

PC fulfilment social atmosphere .097

PC fulfilment organizational policies .101

PC fulfilment work-life balance -

PC fulfilment rewards .039

5. Conclusion and Discussion

5.1 Summary of main findings

This research investigated the effect of the amount of Talent Management practices on affective

organizational commitment of talented employees, with a mediating role of psychological contract

fulfilment. The results indicate that hypothesis 1, which expected a positive effect of the amount of Talent

Management practices on psychological contract fulfilment, is accepted. There is support for hypothesis 2

as well. This hypothesis expected that psychological contract fulfilment has a positive effect on the

affective organizational commitment of talented employees. This effect is controlled for the amount of

Talent Management practices. Hypothesis 3 and 4 expected respectively a direct and an indirect effect of

the amount of Talent Management practices on affective organizational commitment. Only hypothesis 4 is

accepted. The amount of Talent Management practices has a significant positive effect on affective

organizational commitment. However, when this relationship is controlled for psychological contract

fulfilment, the effect is only observable via the mediator. Furthermore, affective organizational

commitment is considerably more explained when psychological contract fulfilment is included.

5.2 Discussion of the findings

Investing in Talent Management is beneficial, since it leads to more psychological contract fulfilment of

talented employees. This is in line with the signaling theory (Spence, 2002), which suggests that every

additional practice that is added provides additional information regarding the obligations of the employee

and the organization (Sonnenberg, 2006). Thus the experience of every added Talent Management practice

has a positive effect on the employee’s perception of his employment relationship with his employer. The

effect of the amount of Talent Management practices on affective organizational commitment is only

observable via psychological contract fulfilment. The amount of perceived Talent Management practices

has only 5% explanatory power on affective organizational commitment. This is explainable because next

to Talent Management practices, affective organizational commitment is dependent on more concepts that

could explain this variable. Adding psychological contract leads to 26.2% more additional explanatory

power above the amount of Talent Management practices in affective organizational commitment. The

dependent variable is thus mostly explained by the mediating variable. This mediating effect indicates that


the amount of Talent Management influences the fulfilment of talents’ psychological contract, which

accordingly ensures higher affective organizational commitment of the talented employees. This result

regarding talented employees is an important outcome for organizations, because talent has become the

single most important force creating strategic value for an organization (Cheese et al., 2008). According to

Blau’s social exchange theory (1964) employees form perceptions about the intentions and attitudes of the

organization toward them (Levinson, 1995). Therefore this research expected that employees who perceive

an amount of Talent Management practices are optimistic and in turn committed to their employer. The

results indicate however, that the employees’ affective organizational commitment is not stronger when

they perceive that the organization is supportive of them. Talented employees do not reciprocate their

perceptions consequently in their own commitment to the organization when they perceive Talent

Management practices. Apparently, simply investing in Talent Management is not effective in terms of

organizational affective commitment. Organizations have to look at the individual level and meet the

employees’ expectations, in order to increase affective organizational commitment of their talents. Thus,

applying Talent Management practices while the psychological contracts of these talented employees are

not taken into account can be considered as ineffective.

This research confirms the results of other studies which show that fulfilment of the psychological contract

has a positive association with affective organizational commitment (e.g. Bunderson, 2001; Johnson &

O’Leary-Kelly, 2003, Sturges et al., 2005). However, there is a discussion about the similar status of the

constructs psychological contract and commitment. According to Guest (1999), psychological contract is

seen as just another way of operationalizing organizational commitment. In this research, organizational

commitment is different from psychological contracts because organizational commitment is seen as a

result of psychological contract fulfilment (Freese, 2007). There could be several reasons why an employee

might like the organization and one of these reasons could be that it meets the expectations the employee

has of the organization. Besides, Schalk and Huiskamp (in Freese, 2007) already statistically proved the

added value of the psychological contract in combination with affective organizational commitment. They

found that psychological contract is a mediating variable between objective characteristics (e.g. age,

gender, tenure) and affective organizational commitment. The psychological contract has additional

explanatory power above objective characteristics in affective organizational commitment. This is similar

to this research; psychological contract fulfilment has additional explanatory power above the amount of

Talent Management practices on affective organizational commitment.

Since psychological contract fulfilment has a mediating effect between Talent Management practices and

affective organizational commitment, it can be concluded that psychological contracts are a key variable in

establishing a business case for Talent Management. Empirical findings (Watson Wyatt, in Whitener, 1999)

indicate that companies with highly committed employees experienced greater 3-year total returns to

shareholders (112%) than with low employee commitment (76%). Organizational effectiveness can be

increased by increasing their employees’ organizational commitment. More specifically, organizational


effectiveness can be increased by creating conditions where employees become highly involved in the

organization (Arthur, 1994; Wood & de Menezes, 1998). One of these conditions is that the organization

fulfils the employee’s expectations of the employer. When organizations are willing to impact the

employment relationship, it is good to know which employer obligations mainly matter. As mentioned

earlier, the psychological contract consists of six different employer obligations (job content, career

development, social atmosphere, organizational policies, work-life balance and rewards). By examining the

scores on fulfilment concerning these components, it became apparent which components of fulfilment

have the strongest mediating role between the amount of Talent Management practices and affective

organizational commitment. It appeared that the fulfilment of career development has the strongest

significant indirect effect above all, followed by respectively organizational policies, job content, social

atmosphere and at last rewards. Besides, the results indicated that the fulfilment of work-life balance has

an insignificant indirect effect. As a result it can be concluded that career development is the most

important component in the relationship between Talent Management practices and affective organizational

commitment. This can be due to the fact that the items of career development are rather similar to certain

Talent Management practices. Therefore the employer will consequently meet the employees’ expectations

regarding career development when applying Talent Management practices. The insignificant result of

fulfilment of work-life balance can be caused by the fact that Talent Management can be a violation of an

employee’s private life. An organization demands a lot from their talents, which can in turn have

consequences for their spare time. The findings of the indirect effect of the different components

demonstrate the multi-dimensionality of the psychological contract construct. In order to understand the

dynamics of psychological contract development, it is necessary to look at those components and not

reflect on the psychological contract as a holistic, uni-dimensional construct (De Vos & Buyens, 2001).

However, the indirect effect of the total fulfilment of employer obligations is stronger than each obligation

separately. This indicates that meeting all employer obligations ensures the highest affective organizational

commitment.

6. Limitations

A first limitation is the level of study. This research examines the effects at an individual level. However,

the fact of belonging to a certain organization could have significant influence. Therefore it is better to

examine the effects on both an organizational level and an individual level (multilevel approach).

Since the focus of the research is on the amount of Talent Management practices and not on the content,

every perceived practice is expected to influence the dependent variables with the same weight. Recalling

the signaling theory, every practice that is added provides additional information regarding the obligations

of the employee and the organization (Sonnenberg, 2006). However, it could be that there are certain

practices that provide more information regarding obligations than others. Therefore it is recommended to

take the content of the Talent Management practices into account as well. In this way, the actual signals per

practice are conducted in a more realistic way.


Another remark can be made about the instrument of Talent Management practices used in this research.

There was no existing scale available for Talent Management. This research reasoned out this difficulty by

using a list of most employed Talent Management practices (CIPD, 2006). However, the list with practices

used in the questionnaire could be limited because every organization had to hold on to the CIPD’s (2006)

list, which consists of 16 practices. Although the list was made specific to the organization, it could be that

not all available practices were asked in the questionnaire. A more extended Talent Management

instrument is thus needed.

The last two limitations are about the sample of this research. There is no definition of what talent precisely

is. Talent Management executives of each organization gave a list with employees who are in their

organization considered to be talent. In this way, no univocal group of talents is used in this research.

Besides, a large amount of respondents belongs to the Public sector. Within this sector, the average age,

work experience and tenure are considerably higher than the other sectors. Furthermore, the amount of

male respondents is also substantially higher. This could influence the representativeness of the sample of

this research.

7. Practical implications

Taking the results of this research into consideration, some practical implications can be drawn.

Organizations should strive to look at the individual level and meet employee’s expectations regarding

Talent Management practices, since employees’ psychological contracts are a key tool toward influencing

affective organizational commitment. The results suggest that the employer obligations concerning career

development are notably important. Therefore it is recommended to pay additional attention to fulfil these

obligations, since this can lead to a better evaluation of the employment relationship.

Talent Management practices provide clarity on which behaviour is expected of talented employees.

Following the line of reasoning of the signaling theory (Spence, 2002), the Talent Management policy of an

organization can be considered as a signal concerning the qualities of an organization in the eyes of a

talented employee. The costs associated with applied Talent Management practices can be enormous

compared to the returns when employees do not perceive these signals as intended. Therefore good

communication is important. If organizations clearly communicate which practices are available for the

talented employees, they will better fulfil their employees’ expectations. The results of this research show

that the more practices an organization employs, the better that is for their employees’ psychological

contract. This subsequently leads to a higher fulfilment of talents’ psychological contract, which in turn

leads to more affective organizational commitment. Therefore organizations should constantly signal to

talented employees which Talent Management practices they apply. Having an open Talent Management

process will help organizations to embed Talent Management (Uren & Samuel, 2007). This means that

organizations should transparently communicate their intended Talent Management practices.


8. Recommendations for further research

The psychological contract consists of several constructs; perceived employee obligations, perceived

employer obligations, and perceived fulfilment or violation of these obligations (Freese, 2007). This

research investigates the effect of the amount of Talent Management practices on psychological contract

fulfilment regarding employer obligations. It would be interesting to focus at the reciprocal part of the

psychological contract and see if this positive effect on fulfilment consequently leads to better employee

obligations or not. By examining the scores on the employee obligations it becomes apparent what

employees believe is expected of them. Besides, psychological contract is seen as a relevant construct to

explain certain employee attitudes. Since this research only puts light on affective organizational

commitment, it might be interesting for future research to investigate the effect of Talent Management on

other reactions, such as loyalty or engagement.

Since Talent Management is an upcoming trend, this research could be the first initiative to further

investigate the effectiveness of implementing Talent Management. Given that this research implies that the

psychological contract is a key variable in establishing a business case for Talent Management, further

research could find out whether the organization’s effectiveness actually increases by applying Talent

Management practices. Besides, this research focused only on the amount of Talent Management practices.

According to Uren and Samuel (2007) it would be unrealistic to focus on all practices at once.

Organizations should first develop a clear understanding of their strategy and then take the priorities of

practices into consideration, which are in line with their strategy. Therefore, the importance of certain

practices could differ and certain practices could provide more information regarding obligations than

others. A recommendation for future research is to look at the content of the Talent Management practices

as well.

The research regarding Talent Management is still in its infancy, there are a lot of possibilities for the

future!


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Appendices

Appendix I

English questionnaire2

1. In which year were you born?

2. What is your gender?

3. How many years have you already been working for your current employer?

4. How many years of work experience do you have?

5. What is the highest level you have completed in your education?

6. What is your contract status?

7. Do you have a management position?

8. The following questions are about how you think of your employer. Specify to what extent you

agree with the following statements.

• I am extremely glad that I chose this organization to work for over others I was considering at the time

I joined.

• I really care about the fate of this organization.

• Deciding to work for this organization was a definite mistake on my part.

• I find that my values and the organization’s values are very similar.

• For me this is the best of all possible organizations to work for.

• I feel very little loyalty to this organization.

• I don’t feel part of this organization.

Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Fully agree

9. The following questions are about your vision on your future with your employer. Specify to what

extent you agree with the following statements.

• I plan to continue to work here until I retire.

• I often think about quitting.

• I am looking for an opportunity to find a job in another organization.

• I would leave this organization if I was offered the same job in another organization.

• I am actively searching for another job.

• In the next few years I intend to stay with this organization.

• In the past three months I have applied for a job in another organization.

• If I had a chance I would change to some other organization.


10. In the employment relationship you have expectations about what your employer will offer you.

To what extent do you consider your employer has the obligation to offer you the following?

• Variation in your work.

• Challenging work.

• Balanced workload.

• Interesting work.

• Autonomy.

• The possibility to deliver quality.

• Opportunity to fully utilize your knowledge and skills.

2 Since this research is part of a larger research, the questionnaire contains questions that are not used in current research.


No obligation at all Hardly an obligation Somewhat an obligation Strong obligation Very strong obligation

11. To what extent did your employer fulfil previous obligations?

Not at all Hardly Somewhat To a great extent To a very great extent

12. To what extent do you consider your employer has the obligation to offer you the following?

• Career opportunities.

• Training and education.

• Coaching on the job.

• Professional development opportunities.

• Learning on the job.





• Good working atmosphere.

• Opportunity to pleasantly cooperate with colleagues.

• Support from colleagues.

• Appreciation and recognition.

• Support from supervisor.





• Participation in important decisions.

• A fair supervisor.

• Feedback on performance.

• Clear and fair rules.

• Keeping you informed of developments.

• Open communication.

• Ethical policy towards society and environment.

• Being able to have confidence in the organization.





• Acknowledgement of personal circumstances.

• Opportunity to schedule your own holidays.

• Working at home.


• Adjust working hours to private life.




• Job security.

• Appropriate salary.

• Rewards for exceptional performance.

• Reimbursement of training costs.

• Good benefits package.

• Pay for performance.




22. Consider how your employer generally held to its promises. To what extent do you agree with the

following statements? I feel ....

• satisfied

• frustrated

• happy

• betrayed

• appreciated

• disappointed


23. In the employment relationship you have views about what you will offer the organization. To

what extent do you feel obliged to offer your organization the following?

• Good cooperation.

• Helping colleagues.

• Provide good service to customers.

• Still performing well on tasks you do not like to do.

• Working with integrity.

• Carrying out your work with dedication.

• Being cost-conscious when dealing with organizational properties.

• Dealing with private matters at home.

• Keeping knowledge and skills up to date to be able to deal with changing requirements.

• Participating in training outside working hours that is important to do your job properly.

• Respecting organizational rules and regulations.

• Contribute to a positive organizational image.

• Making suggestions for improvement.

• Volunteering to do additional tasks.

• Working extra hours if that is necessary to finish work.

• Working weekends.

• Participation in training to enhance job market opportunities.

• The willingness to work in different positions.

• The flexibility to change positions.

• Contributing to a pleasant workplace atmosphere.

• Willingness to work in another region.


• Stay with the organization for several years.



25. Does your employer offer you the opportunity to make use of the following activities?

(If you made use of an activity in the past, but at the moment this is no longer relevant, you can

regard this as an opportunity to participate too.)

• In-house development programs

• Internal secondments

• Coaching

• Courses at external institutions

• MBAs

• Job rotation and shadowing

• 360-degree feedback

• Cross-functional project assignment

• Assessment centers

• Graduate development programs

• Mentoring and buddying

• High-potential development schemes

• Development centers

• Action learning sets

• External secondments

• Succession planning

Yes No Don’t know

26. If every employee within an organization is treated as talent, this approach is called inclusive.

If only a select group of employees within an organization is treated as talent, this approach is called

exclusive. How would you qualify the approach within your organization?

Inclusive Exclusive


Appendix II Dutch questionnaire

3

1. Wat is uw geboortejaar?

2. Wat is uw geslacht?

3. Hoeveel jaren werkt u al voor uw huidige werkgever?

4. Hoeveel jaren werkervaring heeft u?

5. Wat is het hoogste niveau dat u afgerond heeft in uw opleiding?

6. Welke contractvorm heeft u?

7. Heeft u een leidinggevende functie?

8. De volgende vragen gaan over hoe u over uw werkgever denkt. Geef aan in hoeverre u het eens

bent met de volgende stellingen:

• Ik ben heel blij dat ik ervoor gekozen heb om voor deze organisatie te gaan werken.

• Wat er met deze organisatie gebeurt, trek ik me aan.

• Mijn besluit om voor deze organisatie te gaan werken, was een grote fout.

• Ik vind dat mijn persoonlijke normen en waarden sterk overeen komen met wat de organisatie

belangrijk vindt.

• Voor mij is deze organisatie verreweg de beste organisatie om voor te werken.

• Ik voel me nauwelijks verbonden met de organisatie.

• Ik voel me niet thuis bij de organisatie.

Helemaal niet mee eens Niet mee eens Neutraal Mee eens Helemaal mee eens

9. De volgende vragen gaan over uw visie op uw toekomst binnen uw werkgever. Geef aan in

hoeverre u het eens met de volgende stellingen:

• Ik wil tot mijn pensioen bij deze organisatie blijven werken.

• Ik denk er vaak aan om ontslag te nemen.

• Ik houd mijn ogen goed open voor vacatures bij andere organisaties.

• Als een andere organisatie mij eenzelfde soort baan aanbiedt als die ik nu ook heb, dan zou ik dit

aanbod accepteren.

• Ik ben actief op zoek naar een andere baan.

• De komende paar jaar wil ik nog bij deze organisatie blijven.

• In de afgelopen drie maanden heb ik gesolliciteerd bij een andere organisatie.

• Als de kans zich voordoet dan ga ik voor een andere organisatie werken.


10. In de arbeidsrelatie heeft u opvattingen over wat uw werkgever u zal bieden. In hoeverre vindt u

dat uw werkgever de verplichting heeft u het volgende te bieden?

• Afwisselend werk.

• Uitdagend werk.

• Balans in werkdruk.

• Interessant werk.

• Autonomie.

• Mogelijkheid tot kwaliteit leveren.

• Mogelijkheid tot volledige benutting van uw kennis en vaardigheden.

Totaal geen verplichting Nauwelijks een verplichting Enigszins een verplichting Sterke verplichting Zeer sterke verplichting

11. In hoeverre heeft uw werkgever voldaan aan bovenstaande verplichtingen?

3 Since this research is part of a larger research, the questionnaire contains questions that are not used in current research.


Totaal niet Nauwelijks Enigszins In grote mate In zeer grote mate

12. In hoeverre vindt u dat uw werkgever de verplichting heeft u het volgende te bieden?

• Loopbaanmogelijkheden.

• Trainingen en opleidingen volgen.

• Coaching in het werk.

• Brede professionele ontwikkelingsmogelijkheden.

• Leren van het werk.





• Goede werksfeer.

• Mogelijkheden om plezierig samen te werken.

• Steun door collega's.

• Waardering.

• Steun van leidinggevende.


15. In hoeverre heeft uw werkgever voldaan aan bovenstaande verplichtingen? Totaal niet Nauwelijks Enigszins In grote mate In zeer grote mate


• Inspraak bij belangrijke beslissingen.

• Een rechtvaardige leidinggevende.

• Feedback over het werk.

• Duidelijke en rechtvaardige regels.

• U op de hoogte houden van ontwikkelingen.

• Open communicatie.

• Ethisch beleid ten aanzien van maatschappij en omgeving.

• Vertrouwen kunnen hebben in de organisatie.




• Begrip voor persoonlijke omstandigheden.

• Zelf vakantiedagen kunnen inplannen.

• Thuiswerken.

• Werktijden af kunnen stemmen op prive-leven.






• Werkzekerheid.

• Passend salaris.

• Beloningen voor bijzondere prestaties.

• Vergoedingen voor opleidingen.

• Passende secundaire arbeidsvoorwaarden.

• Prestatiebeloning.



22. Bedenk in hoeverre uw werkgever zich over het algemeen aan haar beloften heeft gehouden. In

welke mate bent u het eens met de onderstaande uitspraken? Ik voel me....

• Tevreden.

• Gefrustreerd.

• Gelukkig.

• Verraden.

• Gewaardeerd.

• Teleurgesteld.


23. In hoeverre voelt u zich verplicht uw werkgever het volgende te bieden?

• Goed samenwerken.

• Collega's helpen.

• Goede service aan klanten bieden.

• Taken die u liever niet doet, toch goed uitvoeren.

• Integer handelen.

• Uw werk met toewijding uitvoeren.

• Kostenbewust omgaan met organisatie-eigendommen.

• Privézaken thuis regelen.

• Kennis en vaardigheden op peil houden om om te kunnen gaan met veranderende eisen.

• Buiten werktijd opleidingen volgen die van belang zijn voor het goed uitvoeren van uw werk.

• Regels en afspraken van de organisatie respecteren.

• Een positief imago van de organisatie uitdragen.

• Voorstellen doen ter verbetering.

• Vrijwillig extra taken opnemen.

• Overuren maken als dat noodzakelijk is om het werk af te krijgen.

• In het weekend werken.

• Opleidingen volgen om uw kansen op de arbeidsmarkt te vergroten.

• Voor verschillende functies inzetbaar zijn.

• De flexibiliteit om van functie te veranderen.

• Bijdragen aan een goede sfeer op de werkplek.

• Bereid zijn om in een andere regio te werken.

• Bereid zijn om enkele jaren bij de organisatie te blijven.



24. In hoeverre heeft u voldaan aan bovenstaande verplichtingen? Totaal niet Nauwelijks Enigszins In grote mate In zeer grote mate

25. Biedt uw werkgever u de mogelijkheid gebruikt te maken van de onderstaande activiteiten?

(Als u in het verleden gebruik heeft gemaakt van een activiteit, maar dit op het moment niet meer

relevant is, kunt u dit ook als een mogelijkheid tot deelname beschouwen.)

• In-house development programs


• Coaching


• MBAs



• Cross-functional project assignment

• Assessment centers

• Graduate development programs



• Development centers




Ja Nee Weet ik niet

26. Als iedere werknemer binnen een organisatie als talent wordt behandeld, heet deze aanpak

inclusief.

Als slechts een selecte groep werknemers binnen een organisatie als talent wordt behandeld, heet

deze aanpak exclusief. Hoe zou u de aanpak binnen uw organisatie bestempelen?

Inclusief Exclusief


Appendix III

CIPD’s (2006) list of most used Talent Management practices

• In-house development programmes

• Coaching



• Cross-functional project assignments


• Graduate development programmes



• Assessment centres



• Development centres

• MBAs




Appendix IV

Affective organizational commitment scale (Freese, forthcoming)

• I am extremely glad that I chose this organization to work for over others I was considering at the time

joined

• I really care about the fate of this organization

• Deciding to work for this organization was a definite mistake on my part

• I find that my values and the organization’s values are very similar

• For me this is the best of all possible organizations to work for

• I feel very little loyalty to this organization

• I don’t feel part of this organization


Appendix V

Employer obligations of the psychological contract scale (Freese, forthcoming)

A. Job content

• Variation in your work

• Challenging work

• Balanced workload (Item removed, based on reliability analysis)

• Interesting work

• Autonomy

• The possibility to deliver quality

• Opportunity to fully utilize your knowledge and skills

B. Career development

• Career opportunities

• Training and education

• Coaching on the job

• Professional development opportunities

• Learning on the job

C. Social atmosphere

• Good working atmosphere

• Opportunity to pleasantly cooperate with colleagues

• Support from colleagues

• Appreciation and recognition

• Support from supervisor

D. Organizational policies

• Participation in important decisions

• A fair supervisor

• Feedback on performance

• Clear and fair rules

• Keeping you informed of developments

• Open communication

• Ethical policy towards society and environment

• Being able to have confidence in the organization


E. Work-life balance

• Acknowledgement of personal circumstances

• Opportunity to schedule your own holidays

• Working at home

• Adjust working hours to private life

F. Rewards

• Job security

• Appropriate salary

• Rewards for exceptional performance

• Reimbursement of training costs

• Good benefits package

• Pay for performance


Appendix VI

Regression analyses for different components of psychological contract

Table 5: Regression analysis on PC fulfilment of job content

Model 1 Model 2


TM practices .050*** .009 .294 .041*** .009 .240

Organizational

type

- Bank/ insurance .259* .101 .143

- Public .208** .069 .164

R² .086 .118

∆ R² .086

F 31.766*** 14.867***

F change 5.950**

*** p<.001

**p<.01

*p<.1

Table 6: Regression analysis on commitment using PC fulfilment of job content



TM practices .030** .007 .230 .013* .007 .097 .011* .007 .084

PC fulfilment .354** .039 .454 .340** .039 .435

Organizational type

- Bank/ insurance .002 .073 .002

- Public .142* .050 .143

R² .053 .241 .261

∆ R² .188 .020

Intercept

F 18.802** 53.241** 29.384**

F change 83.088** 4.435*

** p<.001

* p<.01


Table 7: Regression analysis on PC fulfilment of career development

Model 1 Model 2


TM practices .108*** .010 .499 .099*** .011 .457

Organizational

type

- Bank/ insurance .375** .116 .164

- Public .053 .080 .033

R² .249 .272

∆ R² .023

F 110.790*** 41.397***

F change 5.280**

*** p<.001

**p<.01

*p<.1

Table 8: Regression analysis on commitment using PC fulfilment of career development



TM practices .031** .007 .231 .009 .008 .066 .005 .008 .037

PC fulfilment .204** .036 .332 .206** .036 .334

Organizational type


- Public .198** .053 .199

R² .053 .136 .174

∆ R² .083 .091

F 18.858** 26.241** 17.403**

F change 31.882** 7.535*

** p<.001

* p<.01


Table 9: Regression analysis on PC fulfilment of social atmosphere

Model 1 Model 2


TM practices .044*** .009 .252 .036*** .010 .203

Organizational

type

- Bank/ insurance .321** .105 .172

- Public .089 .073 .067

R² .064 .089

∆ R² .025

F 22.971*** 10.927***

F change 4.657*

*** p<.001

**p<.01

*p<.1

Table 10: Regression analysis on commitment using PC fulfilment of social atmosphere



TM practices .031 .007 .231*** .016* .007 .119 .013* .007 .099

PC fulfilment .336*** .037 .447 .336*** .037 .477

Organizational type

- Bank/ insurance -.023 .072 -.170

- Public .185* .049 .187

R²

∆ R² .053 .240 .277

Intercept .187 .037

F 19.104*** 53.351*** 32.088***

F change 82.964*** 8.462***

*** p<.001

**p<.01

*p<.1


Table 11: Regression analysis on PC fulfilment of organizational policies

Model 1 Model 2


TM practices .053*** .010 .273 .051*** .011 .262

Organizational

type


- Public .015 .081 .011

R² .075 .076

∆ R² .002

F 27.134*** 9.188***

F change .274

*** p<.001

**p<.01

*p<.1

Table 12: Regression analysis on commitment using PC fulfilment of organizational policies



TM practices .030*** .228 .012* .092 .008 .058

PC fulfilment .341*** .498 .340*** .497

Organizational type

- Bank/ insurance .056 .040

- Public .208*** .210

R² .052 .281 .321

∆ R² .229 .040

F 18.508*** 65.790*** 39.498***

F change 107.237*** 9.771***

*** p<.001

** p<.01

* p<.1


Table 13: Regression analysis on PC fulfilment of work-life balance

Model 1 Model 2


TM practices .032** .011 .160 .023* .011 .115

Organizational

type

- Bank/ insurance .380** .122 .180

- Public .040 .084 .027

R² .026 .054

∆ R² .028

F 8.903** 6.393***

F change 5.031**

*** p<.001

**p<.01

*p<.1

Table 14: Regression analysis on commitment using PC fulfilment of work-life balance



TM practices .030*** .007 .229 .025*** .007 .192 .021** .007 .162

PC fulfilment .155*** .035 .233 .159*** .035 .237

Organizational type


- Public .208*** .053 .211

R² .052 .105 .148

∆ R² .053 .043

F 18.647*** 19.737*** 14.494***

F change 19.787*** 8.385***

*** p<.001

** p<.01

* p<.1


Table 15: Regression analysis on PC fulfilment of rewards

Model 1 Model 2


TM practices .039*** .010 .201 .026 .011 .136

Organizational

type

- Bank/ insurance .532*** .117 .256

- Public .074 .081 .051

R² .041 .097

∆ R² .057

F 14.176*** 11.938***

F change 10.420***

*** p<.001

**p<.01

*p<.1

Table 16: Regression analysis on commitment using PC fulfilment of rewards



TM practices .030*** .007 .228 .023** .007 .173 .019** .007 .148

PC fulfilment .187*** .035 .276 .195*** .036 .287

Organizational type

- Bank/ insurance -.027 .079 -.019

- Public .208*** .053 .210

R² .052 .125 .172

∆ R² .073 .046

F 18.432*** 23.958*** 17.211***

F change 27.947*** 9.277***

*** p<.001

** p<.01

* p<.1


Appendix VII

Sobel tests for different components of the psychological contract

Figure 3: Sobel test PC fulfilment of job content

Figure 4: Sobel test PC fulfilment of career development

Figure 5: Sobel test PC fulfilment of social atmosphere

Figure 6: Sobel test PC fulfilment of organizational policies


Figure 7: Sobel test PC fulfilment of work-life balance

Figure 8: Sobel test PC fulfilment of rewards

talent management: from an individual perspective

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